Melissa Bailey Photo
Kimberly Beard and Lisa Mendes no longer teach the same grade level, but they’ll be working together in a new way when their school opens Wednesday.
Beard and Mendes (pictured, left to right) are two of 35 classroom teachers at Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School on Derby Avenue, which serves 580 students in grades pre‑K to 8.
They’ve been prepping this week for Wednesday, when all kids across the district in grades 1 to 12 return to school.
Barnard will be different in a few ways this year.
It was one of seven city schools to be graded and placed into three tiers in March as part of the city’s ambitious plan to boost student achievement. Based largely on test scores, Barnard scored in the bottom rung, dubbed a “Tier III improvement school.”
Under a new teacher’s contract, teachers at Tier III improvement schools can either agree to different work rules, or seek employment elsewhere. Most Barnard teachers are staying on through the changes, which include eating lunch with students and showing up earlier for a longer school day. Click here to read more.
Teachers prepared for some of those changes Tuesday in a day-long training session at the school. They took a break around 11:15 a.m. for what the mayor dubbed a “Prep Rally,” where the mayor, superintendent, principal and teachers union president addressed teachers in front of TV cameras.
Schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo rattled off some test score gains that enabled the school to make “safe harbor” last year, which is the first step to graduating from a federal watch list for failing schools. Mayo announced gains among several cohorts. In reading, comparing the third grade in 2008-09 to the fourth grade in 2009-10, there was a 19 percent increase of kids scoring “proficient” on the Connecticut Mastery Test, he said.
Beard, who’s taught at Barnard for four years, and Mendes, who’s taught there for seven, worked together last year with those students as fourth-grade classroom teachers.
The two teachers sat together at the press event. When she heard Mayo’s announcement, Beard reached over and gave Mendes a hug.
Last year, the two worked together on classroom plans because they taught the same grade level. This year, Beard will be moving up to the fifth grade, so the two won’t be colleagues in the same way. But, as part of a new teaching setup, they will continue to work together in a so-called “vertical team.”
Their “vertical team” consists of all teachers in grades 4, 5 and 6. The team worked together Tuesday to identify strengths and weaknesses among students in those grades. They also planned to look at specific kids’ strengths and weaknesses.
During the school year, as part of a reorganization of the teaching schedule, teachers will show up to school an hour before students arrive, and work on class prep in their vertical team from 8:15 to 9 a.m. Each morning’s session will have a different theme and a leader, such as a literacy coach, said Principal Mike Crocco.
There will be four vertical teams, Crocco said: pre‑K and K, grades 1 to 3, grades 4 to 6, and grades 7 and 8. The new schedule allots a consistent block of time for professional development, and allows teachers to learn from those who have taught, or will teach, their students.
Beard and Mendes said they’re looking forward to working together again, and to seeing their students show up Wednesday. Until then, they headed back to the classroom to get their own homework done.
Previous Independent stories on Barnard magnet school:
Barnard Teachers Sign Up For Longer Day
Schools Get Graded — & Shaken Up